A Shaken Tragedy
by Frappawhip Loves Starbucks
Summary: After separation for a few years, Beckett comes to Castle with some news that will bring the dynamic duo back together. Slight Caskett
1. Chapter 1

Kate Beckett knocked on the familiar door nostalgically; she hadn't been near it in a while because of her busy schedule (or so she told herself). And it wasn't pleasure that brought her here; had it been her choice, she wouldn't have come. In fact, she even asked Esposito or Ryan to come in her place, but they refused because of the excuse of the work that she could have done herself.

And it wasn't just because she was back at the door again for the tears. It was also the why as to the tears on her face. She couldn't bear to tell him; she could hardly fathom it herself. Sure, the woman was exceedingly annoying, but she never did anything extremely bad, and she had raised her son alright.

"Kate Beckett," Castle said upon opening the door. She could see the anger in his face, but she also saw a happiness that she hadn't seen in a while; the sincerity in his smile had faded since he left. "What pleasure brings you here again?" That was said before he noticed the wetness on her face.

"It's not pleasure, Castle. It's business." She took a deep breath.

"So you're here as a detective? I've only killed people in my books."

"I don't think you could have done it, much as you joke about it. Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped out of the way, and she slowly stepped into the apartment, remembering everything detail about it; nothing was different. "You can sit on the couch. Anything to drink or eat?"

"Scotch, if you have it. Bring the bottle, too." She sank into the couch, and she could feel the constriction returning. The tension from their last meeting had been nearly unbearable, and she barely made it through the tension cloud.

He returned with two fat cups and the bottle of expensive Scotch. He set them on the table easily and uncorked the cap. He poured several shots of it into each glass and passed her one, hands clearly shaking. "What brings you here?"

"Do you know where Alexis is?"

"What does Alexis have anything to do with this? If you need her to go away, she's not here."

Beckett took a longer than normal sip from her Scotch and proceeded. "If you know where she is, I have to know right now."

"She's at a friend's house. She walked there alone. She called when she got there. She's staying the night, so I'm not expecting her back till morning."

"How long ago did you talk with her?"

"Three hours." Castle was well-versed with how specific a person need to be when getting interrogated. He had hesitated, wondering how exact to be.

"That was when you were sure she arrived at the friend's house? Did she sound at all queer during the conversation?"

"No. What's with the interrogation?"

"Your family has been put in danger," Beckett answered slowly.

"How?" Castle answered. "Kate?" he pressed when she took another sip of Scotch.

"I got a call about two hours ago. It was a normal call for a homicide…"

"Skip to the interesting part," Castle interrupted, taking a slow sip of his own drink.

"I indentified the body myself at the crime scene." Her voice began to break, and she broke into shivers at his face.

He swallowed a sip slowly, horror drawing upon his face slower than his drink was going down his throat. "Are you telling me that Alexis…is dead?" Beckett knew that Alexis was a major part in his life; the only reason to keep on living, and she was relieved that it brought him down only to be relieved for a moment.

"Not Alexis; your mother." She finished her drink and poured herself another couple of shots. She was grateful for the Scotch burning her throat to momentarily take her mind off the pain she felt in Castle that was mirrored in her own soul.

"My mother is dead." It wasn't a question but rather a declaration as if trying to convince himself that his mother is dead. When he looked up to Beckett, he knew it wasn't all. "What happened to Alexis, Beckett?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that one." She set the glass on the table and extracted her phone and set it on the table gracefully and slowly. "Rick, I need you to call her and see if she picks up the phone. If not, we have to act fast."

Castle was sniffling quite loudly and silent tears slipped down his face. He didn't care about whose presence he was in; nothing mattered more than the safety of his daughter. After a deep breath, he reached forward and picked up the phone with steady hands, a miracle by any standards. He dialed the number, taking equal time with each number. Gracelessly, he put the phone to his ear. Beckett could hear each ring, and with every ring his shaking and sobs grew heavier. When it finally went to the answering machine, they were invisible to each other through the pools of tears.

Beckett was the first to right herself. She ambled to the other side of the coffee table and picked up the phone that had fallen out of Castle's hand, which was still in the same position. She took it and sat on the coffee table and studied him, still sniffling and crying quietly. She took his hand down and grasped it on her knee while dialing the NYPD as fast as she could. "This is Detective Kate Beckett. I need to put out an APB on a missing child. Name: Alexis Castle. Age: seventeen. Red hair, blue-green eyes. She should be in the records along with Richard Castle." She snapped the phone shut, and he finally looked up. "There's no use in staying around here looking for her. We're both drunk and misty-eyed, so we'll need to take a taxi." She noticed her words had begun to slur a bit.

"We can't work at all. I'm not qualified and you're drunk. On duty, too." He was less drunk, albeit, but drunk nonetheless. He knew that his judgment and movements would be slow, and she was worse off. "We have to go under the radar here. But we should first go to the friend's house and ask about what happened. Have your gun?"

"Always." They trouped out of the opulent apartment, hardly looking drunk. They deemed it better to take the elevator because of their state, and they didn't want any more accidents to happen. They exited into the pouring rain that Castle had been glad he was avoiding just a few minutes earlier. A taxi came slushing through the waterlogged streets, but was careful when he noticed that there were people wanting to be passengers. They each got in and Castle gave the address, and the cabbie instantly went back to his business.

"Are these two incidences connected?" asked Castle, settling back into the uncomfortable seat back.

"We have reason to believe so," Beckett answered, staring at him in the face drunkenly.

"You narrow-minded people. You never stop to think that two incidences could only be connected by the family, and both of them attacked the same person through different people. I mean, why would they kill my mother and then kidnap or kill my daughter? If they kill both, that's one thing, but why hold my daughter hostage afterwards?"

"To get to you. To make you pay for something before paying with your own life. Bad motive, in my opinion. That would give you chance to get back at them. Your rage might end up killing them."

"But could it possibly be two separate people, Beckett?"

"I suppose so, but when they attack the same person, it's not generally two different people. Especially with you."

"And then if it is one person, perhaps they know more about me than most. They know that I can't afford to lose my daughter, and if they want to put me in as much pain as possible, they would kill my mother and then my daughter, but Alexis in front of me."

"And that's why we need you to work for us again." Beckett knew that the alcohol had some affect to telling the truth, but she would realize later that she couldn't blame it on the Scotch.

It was tense in the car. Beckett stared at her hands fiddling with her phone, her throat closing at the familiar constriction again. Castle turned the other way to face the deserted streets through a dotted window. After a moment, the tension faded away as a thought came to mind.

"Were you able to collect any evidence at all? Before the rain?"

She turned toward her own window. "No, all we saw was blood and the body. I'm sorry." She felt around for his hand as she looked out her own window. The images outside faded as her breath invaded upon an area of the window. "But I could tell this guy was a pro. He didn't leave any traces of anything that can't be washed out by the rain."

"Even amateurs can hide evidence using the rain. But because you didn't find anything, it might be because he planned it all. He knew that it was going to rain, my daughter was going to a friend's, and my mother was going for a drink. Well, the latter is always true, but what if he'd been waiting for a perfect day to do this. The rain would wash out the evidence of my mother, and he could take Alexis when she went to the movie. All he needed was a little time to position himself close to Alexis. What was my mother's TOD?"

"We think about ten-thirty."

"That's perfect timing if your theory is correct. Alexis was going to friend's tonight because of a midnight showing. She was supposed to get there at eight o'clock. All he needed to do was wait for her to the restroom or for food alone and then he could get her."

"Why don't you call the friend and ask her when Alexis went missing?"

"Because we're headed to the house right now. And we're nearly there, too."

Beckett drunkenly noticed that the scenery had changed from enormous apartments and condos to nearly mansions; the alcohol had begun to work itself into her pulsing veins. They were nearing the mansions when the driver pulled into a private drive and parked near the front of the house. Castle and Beckett got out without stumbling, even though their physical abilities were dwindling. Castle knocked sharply on the door and supported Beckett in wait. When he heard footsteps near, he released her slowly and waited for a moment.

The door opened, and Beckett could feel the usual dizziness and nausea wave over her. She produced her badge. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD and this is…"

"Richard Castle," the blurry man answered, turning toward the man in the lit doorway. "Are you here for Madison? Ever since the incident, we've been trying to get ahold of the police."

"We are the police, and we're here for the investigation of Martha and Alexis Castle," Beckett answered, slurring her words greatly.

"Are you really the police? I thought you weren't supposed to drink on duty."

"She just found out that a friend's mother and daughter are dead. How do you think she's going to react?" asked Castle.

"And what about you? You should be the one drunk." He turned to Castle, who had just caught Beckett falling.

"I am drunk. We're technically not on the job, but seeing as this is personal, we're doing this solo. May I speak to Madison, Bruce?" Castle asked, righting his partner.

"If you think it'll help. I'm doing this as a friend, Rick. But just don't report it, okay?"

"Fine. Ten minutes with Madison, and then we'll leave."

"Come in." He opened the door and allowed them into the foyer. He led them down and to the left, where an even more opulent living room was that looked like it was only used for visitors. "Coffee, tea? I won't serve you alcohol, though. You look like you've had a lot."

"Just some Scotch. High dollar," answered Castle, helping Beckett into a seat. "I'll have ice water."

"Coffee," Beckett slurred, feeling euphoric. She leaned on Castle's shoulder until they heard approaching footsteps of someone with high heels, at which point she instantly sat up and immediately fell to the other side.

"Hi Mr. Castle. Is your partner drunk?" Madison asked, setting down the coffee and water in front of them and sitting down in a chair facing them.

"Yeah. We're just doing this because it's personal."

"And you're drunk, too. But if this'll help you find Alexis, I suppose I'll help." Beckett noticed that she was trying too hard to get noticed for her body, but she was too drunk to care.

"What happened at the movie theater?" asked Castle, picking up the water and placing it on his forehead.

"Alexis and I were sitting in line. She said she had to go to the restroom and would get some food on the way back. I never saw her again after that."

"And did you see him at all? Did anyone look really suspicious?"

"Not that I know of. I could see the concession stand but not the restrooms. He must have taken her from the restroom and out the opposite exit. Other than that, I really can't help you."

"Did Alexis have any serious enemies at school? Ones that would want to take advantage of her?" asked Beckett, slowly regaining her facility with words.

"I mean, sure, guys wanted to do her, but she always resisted. There were none that really pressed her to go on dates or anything. They were just being guys."

"Thank you, Kate, for that embarrassing moment. I'm really sure that someone at her school would dare cross me after my work with the NYPD."

"Or they would do it because of it, but because you've been out of it for so long, it wouldn't really matter, would it?"

"Are you guys done? Are there anymore questions you want to ask?"

Beckett finished her drink quickly, but quickly regretted it. "No, thank you. We'll be in touch, though. Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett's head swam as she realized that she should not have mixed the drug properties of the coffee with the alcoholic properties of the scotch. In fact, it felt like she was getting a migraine and her hand often jumped to her left temple as she waited for a taxi to come along the road. When one finally did, she painfully got into the taxi and slumped into the seat. Castle got in and closed the door before putting his arms around her, pressing her arm into her chest as she reached for her head again. When a throb subsided slightly, she released her head and put her hand on Castle's arm. Realizing how comfortable it felt and how wrong it was, she tried to escape his grasp but he would let her. It was also then when she realized that they weren't going anywhere and they needed to tell the cabbie where to go.

But they had no plan. They had only confirmed a theory that was more than likely and still had no idea where they were supposed to go. Kate searched for somewhere where they might get the information. They didn't have enough time to check the movie theater to see who might have seen them and then get identification on them. But there were too many enemies that she knew of Castle's that she could really eliminate a lot.

And then her thoughts went to any known serial killers who attacked young girls. "It might have been coincidence that Alexis was killed and completely separate from your mother. You might have been right after all."

"How much did that hurt?"

"None at all, Castle," she answered, once again trying to get out, but he refused. So she decided to just relax into him again, thankful for the warmth against the chill outside. "Where do we go next?"

"We shouldn't go to the movie theater because it'll take too long, and we don't have as much time as we would like. So, where do we go next?"

"On a wild goose chase? Perhaps I can help you." He turned down a private street that did not lead to a house. It just sort of ended, and the cabbie turned around. "Oh, how sweet! This is how it's going to go. You are going to leave your weapons in the car when we get there. We will pat you down upon arrival. On the way there, you may not call anyone and alert them to our location. Don't worry. Your daughter is just fine. And this is perfect; you're both drunk and easily vulnerable. Is that why you're both in each other's arms?"

Red, they broke apart and faced directly forward. "Can we have some explanation? Why Castle?"

"Because we know that he has made enemies from his work at NYPD. Well, we've sprung some of them."

"We?"

"All of the ones that we've helped to escape. We've been plotting this for years now."

"But the break-outs have only been happening since six months ago, and those files got pushed to Internal Affairs."

"And you should've kept on the case because it would ultimately lead to you as well. But then you would have to find us first."

"And you figured that I would be routed to the case because I'm in homicide if you killed the mother?"

"That's pretty much the extent of it."

"So you needed both of us. But why?"

"Because I knew that you would want to see tonight's presentation. It's going to be glorious. But we are taking a great risk by putting the two of you together. I hear that you two are an unstoppable team."

"I'm the brains; she's the brawn," answered Castle.

"That's not helping, Castle. What kind of presentation are you talking about?"

"Be patient and you will find out. Anymore questions?"

"Where is Alexis?"

"She's completely safe. I assure you." The cabbie turned around in the seat and turned the car around and continued along the dirt path to the road. "Anymore boring questions?"

"Yeah. Are you the smallest of the small because you were sent to pick us up, knowing exactly where we are?"

"Don't be so testy."

"I withdraw the question. So, if you have been planning this for awhile, did you also plan for the rain?"

"A lucky coincidence, I assure you. The rain would have been a useful asset. We've just finished planning, and we saw the clouds approaching us. We decided it was a good night to do it, even though no rehearsals have been done about it. We are hoping that most know exactly what to do. If one fails, we shall all fail."

"How many are there?"

"There are only ten of us. When you put some of us in federal prison, it was not easy to get some of us out."

"But you needed people who have been through it all to get you out. So they would know how to get around and know an escape route. It's even better if they did it themselves because then they could get people out in the same way. So about five makes sense with all of the planning. But I will put everyone back in or kill them myself. I assure you."

"But our plan is flawless. Everything will be done according to plan."

"And how often does that work out for you?"

"Only in movies, sweetheart."

"Call me…"

"Sweetie, you're hardly in a position to make decisions because you are in a cab and you are about to get a gun to your head."

"So, you wouldn't care if we just tumbled out of the car?"

"You wouldn't do that. I guarantee that. Besides, you'll live. After we get a couple of things from you."

"What sort of things?"

"You shall find out." He turned down a more private road with only a large shack at the end of the winding road.

Kate swallowed hard, forcing her head to become focused, but failing. She put her head on Castle's shoulder, who did not respond in the slightest.

"Please hand me any weapons you might have on your person."

"I'm off duty and have none. You can pat me down all you like."

"I will, but I do trust you."

"So, you are only after Castle because he's put your crew away. But then you also trust us?"

"Pretty much."

"That's really weird for someone who only wants to kill us. You trust us, but you only want to kill us," observed Kate.

"We don't want to kill you. Just him."

"But I wouldn't have put all of them away if it hadn't been that I had shadowed Kate. So you should also kill her, too."

"Thanks for giving him the idea, Castle."

"Actually, we won't kill you, even if you give us that idea. It occurred to us to do that, but you need him to really solve cases. The crime rate decreased when you two paired up. Get rid of one and we're okay, but there also the question of why we would kill him. We decided on him because he is so well-connected and he can take our life stories and skew them so that people don't think they are real people. No one takes the time to go through our strife."

"I know, but we can't ignore the fact that you committed a crime. We have to lock you up. But we can give you a deal if you tell us about your life."

"No one ever gives us the chance."

"There are plenty of chances: court, interrogation, simple questioning under your own roof. You have a right to be heard, and you can put our jobs in jeopardy for not looking into it. You have a right to be heard in America."

"Get out of the car. Now!" He pointed the gun at them from the door and they both got out with their hands up in surrender. He led them up the winding path to the little, two-story shack.

Just before she entered, she said, "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm sure you will. But in order to help you, I have to know your story. The police can help criminals. A percentage of criminal do delinquent acts. But they don't realize that they can get help and maybe even lose time by putting their assailants away. They don't realize that they can apply for the insanity plea or get shorter time. There are many ways that you can get shorter time for it…"

"If I wanted a full-on lecture about it," he snapped, but they all knew that he appreciated the advice. "Up the stairs." He flicked the gun carelessly to the stairs where Kate was already ascending. Castle winced but knew that he wouldn't do anything; he had enough time to react before he could finish cocking it at that distance.

Kate stopped in the foyer and noticed a door slightly off its hinges. She spun around and saw Castle's fearful face. It looked so weird like that. She had only known his face to be either sarcastic or coming up with an idea (inspiration in his words). This was a new feature and it scared her, but she had no time to waste. "Castle. Rick." She corrected herself because this was a personal conversation, more personal than ever before. He stopped, leering at the dilapidated door in wait for it to open. "Look at me." He obliged after a hesitation.

"I know what you want."

In an instant, she had her lips pressed softly against his. He put a hand to her ear, cupping it by shoving his hands into her hair. She turned into it and put her hand to his elbow. She turned even farther into him when the door snapped off of its hinges. She felt the tingle on her lips as strong as ever. It was a familiar feeling from the moments when they had been forced to be close together, but this magnitude was enough to make her head swim. She began to walk forward, and her head cleared when Castle let go of her. He moved behind her into the room to be centered.

"Where's Alexis?" Castle demanded, standing in a defensive stance that he had learned from Kate so long ago. (When did they become first-name friends?)

"She's safe. Just collateral." The captor said, pointing a gun at Castle.

"And his mother?" Kate pressed, moving forward slightly.

"Collateral. I needed your attention. I think I got it. You're slightly drunk. Don't fall asleep; you'll wake up with a headache."

"We know that already," Kate said, having inched forward.

"Just thought you might want to know, but you're the only one who will get out of here and possibly have a hangover, but the adrenaline will keep you awake.

"But you'll go home and cry and cry and cry because you didn't have your precious Castle."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Oh, right!" He pointed the gun back to him and Kate lunged.


	3. Chapter 3

She heard the shot and knew the worst. But there was no time to waste. She jumped up right when she knew the shot was coming. She hit it down nearly too late. She watched the bullet in slow motion go to Castle's stomach and put a hole in the direct center; a miss from the heart. If she acted fast, she would be able to save him. But she heard a long scream (in slow motion) permeate from a small door that obviously hid a closet: it was Alexis.

She had to comfort her. She hardly understood the emotion, but it had to be done. "Sweetie, hold on a moment." She heard the silence, allowing her to complete her current task. She reached for the hand that held the gun and she instantly heard a door burst open from below. But she had to ignore it as the gun found its way from the door concealing Alexis to Castle's shuddering form. She had difficulty putting it to the floor, in the process un-cocking it. She gave him a hard shove, and he let go of the gun. In a shudder from Castle, she had the gun on him and shot without hesitation. She dropped the gun to the floor and ran to the door and freed Alexis. "Alexis, go down and get a medic. Then get yourself checked out. I'll take care of your father; I promise I won't let anything happen to him. Go." She was fixed on Castle to notice Deming slip in as Alexis ran out. She ripped off her jacket and placed the right amount of pressure on the wound. "Castle, I need you to look at me." She cradled his ear just the way he did just five minutes ago. He feebly looked at her and tried to give a smile. She saw the pain in his eyes and the same place hurt in her stomach where the bullet had entered his.

She jumped up and began to take things into her own control. "GSW to the stomach. Less than five minutes."

"What blood type is he? He'll need a transfusion on the way there."

"I have O-. Take mine."

"Get down to the ambulance and we'll do the transfusion in there. We'll get your statement later."

"Let me check up on Alexis. She's his daughter, and I promised her his safety." Kate left and went to the area with the blaring lights that hurt her head, but she pushed the pain to the side. She looked up and found the cabbie being cuffed and looking guilty: It was him who informed the police. She nodded her head in appreciation and made a mental note to help him in court. She asked an EMT about Alexis and was told that she was on her way to the hospital. She went to a clear ambulance where she told the EMT that she was going to do a transfusion. He ushered her into the ambulance and he began to clean her wounds and bandage them. As the stretcher was approaching, he began to sanitize the area quickly and roughly (accurately) put a hypothermic needle in her elbow to remove the blood. It soon began to withdraw blood and she realized that she was feeding him alcohol from her blood: It was an emergency and had no choice but to give her blood. When they had taken enough, she fainted into the arms of the EMT.

She woke up with a headache in a hospital room. The sounds of a heart monitor annoyingly beeped slightly above her head. She sighed as a bubbly nurse entered and began to list off a whole bunch of things. It was something that caught her attention that made her sit up straight.

"We noticed that you had alcohol in your blood. In trace amounts, but you still had it. You also had high adrenaline levels, which might have killed him. He is lucky that he reacts well with your blood, and it's lucky that you are a universal donor. But we will have to have him here for a couple of weeks so that we can make sure no permanent damage will be made. By tomorrow, you are free to go, and one week of no active field duty. After that, you are cleared unless you don't make progress."

She had to see Deming. She had finished my shift and was heading down to Robberies when she hesitated. Kate didn't want to see him hurt, but she knew that was the only way to make things right. She continued to the familiar office, slipping the ring off that still hadn't become familiar. She took a deep breath before knocking. She entered upon cue, closed the door, and walked into the room two steps.

"Kate, you don't have to knock on the door. You're always…"

"Shut up. I need you to be quiet."

"How are you doing?"

"I told you to be quiet. There's another person. I've known him for a long time, but it took me some time to figure out exactly what I wanted."

"It's Castle." She paused, invisibly flipping the ring in her hand. "I know. You settled for me because he never asked, but you showed your feelings for each other two weeks ago. It made you realize that he wanted you, too. I knew that it would happen."

Kate paused in the doorway. "This is goodbye." She placed the ring neatly on a spired paperweight and left silently. She managed to look up for a second to get her bearings when she saw Castle. "It's done. But you better make sure that it's worth it."

"I'm fine. And so's Alexis. She's stuck in the house for the summer, which doesn't make her very happy, but she'll be alright. And me? I got released and came to escort you home."

"Which home?"

"Mine. No, ours."


End file.
